Sensual, highly energetic and colourful, Jazz Men appears intent on giving Magic Mike a run for its money. I speak of 11 locally based dancers – some finely chiseled – strutting their stuff in front of a most appreciative audience who don’t hold back. The showmen change their costumes – which range from the elegant to the…
Senior high in the US in the late 1950s is re-energised in the colourful new production of Grease The Musical at Her Majesty’s Theatre. It is set in fictional Rydell High School (named after pop singer Bobby Rydell). That is where Australian blonde beauty Sandy Dumbrowski unexpected bumps into her summer love, the too cool for school,…
If you want to see a show full of feel good, life affirming entertainment, you should look no further than The Choir of Man. Straight from London’s West End, it is sensational. Music, revelry and heartfelt exchanges with the audience are the name of the game and the punters get to join it even before the show…
Goosebumps! That is what I had while watching and listening to three of Australia’s preeminent musical theatre performers on stage with the Aussie Pops Orchestra. The occasion was one of three New Year’s Eve & The Night Before Gala Concerts at Hamer Hall (included amongst them was a matinee). Complete with a 60-piece orchestra, the mastery of their…
Magic Mike or Santa? Honestly, there are times you can’t tell the difference in this sexually promiscuous, irreverent Christmas revue that provides no shortage of fun. It upends everything you thought you knew about the festive season and keeps the laughs coming. A traditional Christmas carol behind curtains gives way to smut and innuendo, which the enthusiastic…
Acceptance is the theme of the musical Kinky Boots, which is based on the 2005 film of the same name. Charlie Price is a young man destined to take over his family’s Northampton-based shoe manufacturing business – the fourth generation to do so. His father Harold has never thought otherwise. And yet, Charlie doesn’t have a passion for…
What a magical, beautifully constructed and executed show The Old Vic’s A Christmas Carol is. Conceived and directed by Matthew Warchus, Jack Thorne has reimagined the Charles Dickens’ classic tale to mesmerising effect. It is dramatic and melodic with humorous flourishes. It recounts Dickens’ famous 1843 novella with relish and a fresh perspective. I saw it last year…
Charles Dickens’ Ebenezer Scrooge has never seen the likes of it. Take the classic tale A Christmas Carol and put a Jewish twist on it. That is what writer Elise Esther Hearst has done with Phillip Kavanagh … and they have absolutely nailed this world premiere. Oy Humbug! Channel Seth Cohen (Adam Brody) on the US TV series…
More than ever, in 2023 the theme has an ick factor. It made my skin crawl. Today, cyberbullying is unfortunately rife, with physical appearance being a common reason why. Dogfight, in the context of this musical, refers to the practice among Marines of placing bets on ugly women. This is the story of Eddie Birdlace, who is…
Forty years on, the winner of 11 Tony Awards remains so much rambunctious fun. This all-new Australian production stars five-time Helpmann Award winner Paul Capsis in the lead role of Albin. By his side is renowned singer and actor Michael Cormick (Beauty and The Beast, The Phantom of The Opera) as husband Georges. Georges and the flamboyant,…
